George Ayittey is seen as positively dangerous to the current AU member state leadership and hence the local propaganda generally portrays him as an Uncle Tom.Originally Posted by Tom Odom
See why below...
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On July 24, 2005, in the TV program Wide Angle, Professor Ayittey discussed social, political and economic development in Africa with Anchor, Bill Moyers:
GEORGE AYITTEY: In Africa, we see our governments as the problem. In fact, one Lesotho traditional chief said as much back in 1989, “Here we have two problems, rats and the government.”
BILL MOYERS: Rats and the government?
GEORGE AYITTEY: Yes, it is because Africans see government as the problem. In fact, we call them vampire states because they suck the vitality out of the people, their own people. A vampire state is a government which has been captured or hijacked by a phalanx of bandits and crooks who use instruments of the state to enrich themselves, their cronies and tribesmen and exclude everybody else. It’s called the politics of exclusion.
Now, if you want to understand why America is rich and Africa is poor, ask yourself, how do the rich in each of these areas make their money?
Take the US, for example. The richest person is Bill Gates. He's worth something like $64 billion. How did he make his money? He made his money in the private sector by selling something, Microsoft computer software. He has something to show for his wealth.
Now, let’s go to Africa. Who are the richest in Africa? The richest in Africa are African heads of state and ministers. How did they make their money? They made their money by raking it off the backs of their suffering people. That is not wealth creation. It is wealth redistribution.
BILL MOYERS: By stealing the money?
GEORGE AYITTEY: By stealing the money!
BILL MOYERS: But you see, that’s what troubles those of us who are looking for a way to be helpful to Africa. Why and how would they steal money given to AIDS programs and money given to build a civil society?
GEORGE AYITTEY: It’s because they hold the key institutions in the state. They control the military. They control the media. They control the judiciary. They control the electoral commission. They control the civil service. They control the central bank. This is why it is very important to take these institutions out of their hands.
BILL MOYERS: Jeffrey Sachs, who’s advising Kofi Annan at the UN on how to solve poverty and develop the third world, says, “The poor are poor because of failing infrastructure, poor energy sources, geographic isolation, disease and natural disasters that inevitably conspire to foil progress.”
GEORGE AYITTEY: Well, if you go to an African village and tell them this, very few villagers will believe you because they clearly see where the problem is. If you want to understand why Africa is in such a rut, there’s one word which describes it. And that’s ‘Power’.
Power is what describes the condition of Africa. The inability, or the adamant refusal, of African leaders to relinquish or share power has been the bane of development in Africa. Zimbabwe would have been saved if Mugabe were willing to step down or share political power. Isn’t it ironic that a continent with so much, actually has so little. That a people blessed with such an abundance of natural resources are, in fact, poverty stricken and deprived of even the slightest bit of wealth.”
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